The BBC Introducing Mixtape is a 60 minute radio show broadcast on BBC Radio 6 Music from 2-3am every Sunday night/Monday morning. Each programme is downloadable in podcast form at the BBC 6 Music downloads page for the next 30 days. Full tracklists and track start times are published here at Fresh On The Net – together with info about the music provided by the artists.

HEMAN SHEMAN – Luvva [starts 00:17]https://www.facebook.com/hemansheman“Heman Sheman are a dark funk guitar group, brewed in Manchester and bottled in London. Playing together since the age of 13, they spent their teenage years slogging around the clubs of Manchester, and the summer holidays playing 3 hour sets as resident band on a cruise liner for ageing holiday-goers. Indeed, the CEO of P&O Cruises, David Noyes, was an early fan. A move to Hackney solidified their desire to absorb the best of disco, soul and hip hop into modern guitar music. They have been featured in The Guardian by Paul Lester, NME and BBC Introducing, along with a choice selection of blogs. Tracks such as Haven’t Got You In My Heart have been played by Lauren Laverne on BBC 6 Music, Gary Crowley on BBC Introducing London and Paul Lester on Amazing Radio. They’ve performed at boxing fights, Ethiopian jazz festivals, Belle Vue dogs tracks and alongside drag queens and strongmen. Early 2017 will see the boys release the follow-up single to Luvva and continue to hit the live circuit with trademark ferocity. Confirmed shows include the New Cross Inn (15 January) and the Old Blue Last (March 7), with further announcements imminent.”

INDIGO ROSE – Shiver [starts 04:09]http://www.musicindigorose.com/
“Proudly Northern and based in Manchester, Indigo Rose has been inspired by a vast and eclectic range of artists. To create her unique soundscapes, Indigo sings, plays guitar, harp, violin, ukulele and flute while her band creates electronic textures underpinned by heavy drums to provide harmony and discord to Indigo’s dreamlike sound. Over the past 4 years Indigo Rose has supported James Blunt, Simon Townshend of The Who, Admiral Fallow, Emma Stevens, Ian Siegal, Marc O’Reilly, Johnny Hates Jazz, Lindisfarne and Cherry Ghost.

Indigo is due to release her debut EP The Cold Spell on 20th December at The Castle Hotel in Manchester. The EP, mastered at Abbey Road and produced by Richard Walker, has already been featured on BBC Introducing and has recently been launched for pre-order on iTunes. 2017 promises to be a big year for Indigo, as she is set to hit the festival scene and embark on her first full solo tour. She has no plans to her reduce her creative output either, as she continues to build up a catalogue of songs for her debut studio album.”

ANIMAL NOISE – Little Things [starts 08:27]http://www.animalnoise.co.uk
“Colchester Indie trio Animal Noise are pleased to unveil their new single Little Things this November. Little Things, with its earthy, yet modern production (mixed by Gethin Pearson – Prides, The Hearts, Mallory Knox) is described by Jack Gordon, the band’s drummer as ‘a drop-tuned, riff-soaked ballad about temptation and obsession’. The single is a follow up to the band’s Sink or Swim EP which was released earlier this year. Since the EP the band have been touring across the country including selling out their hometown show at Colchester Arts Centre, plus some high profile festival dates British Summer Time Festival in Hyde Park, Standon Calling, Fling, Ramsbottom and Wilkestock amongst others. Animal Noise’s music has recently been picking up love from key tastemakers God Is In The TV, Louder Than War, Sofar Sounds, Jammerzine, Indie Band Guru and XS-Noise, as well as radio support from BBC 6 Music, BBC Introducing, Virgin Radio and SOHO Radio, and US College Radio Stations.”

FLIES+FLIES – Milk & Peppers [starts 12:11]http://www.fliesandflies.com
“flies+flies are a London based three-piece consisting of electronics, vox/guitar and cello. Their brooding, claustrophobic sound occupies a smoky hinterland encompassing Jeff Buckley’s reflective late-night hymnals, the apocalyptic transmissions of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and the spare, sputtering 808 patterns of early Hessle Audio records. It’s no surprise that Andrew Weatherall was one of the first people to pick up on flies+flies, including them in his BB6 show.

They have recently released the Milk & Peppers EP on digital and 12″ on the newly formed Precious Snowflake Records. The EP also includes The Sea – the silvery, Man-Ray inspired video directed by long-term collaborator Nick Roberts recently premiered on Northern Transmissions. They will be releasing another single followed by their debut album in the first half of 2017 and will be playing shows around the UK.”

JAGUAR MÍN & EILEEN BURGOYNE – Chasca IV [starts 16:24]https://jaguarmin.co.uk
“Jaguar Mín & Eileen Burgoyne are a cavalier, post-taste duo consisting of Harrison Banfield (programming & arrangement) and Jack Rees (vocals & percussion). Originally hailing from South Wales, the duo creates music inspired by a world that has lost all its points of reference. Their latest album Maximum Jailbreak is available for download now on bandcamp.”

BOODA FRENCH – Easy, No Hands [starts 18:42]https://www.facebook.com/boodafrench
“Booda French is an MC from Ipswich who originally cut his teeth on the battle circuit from as early as 2004 under a different pseudonym. His first release as Booda French was in 2012 with Ventolin, closely followed up by Club 27 Reservations in 2013. After a small hiatus, he recently released Awesome is Everyday on American label, Soulspazm Records which gained an Album of The Year nomination from Wordplay Magazine. It features production from J57 (Method Man, Homeboy Sandman, Brown Bag Allstars etc), Apatight (Jehst, Sonnyjim, Professor Green) and Jimmy Green. 2017 will see his debut release on Eat Good Records, entitled 6am Coffee Club.”

THE CAMPERVAN DANCERS – Starlight (Pickin’ Pears) [starts 21:30]http://www.thecampervandancers.com/
“Lovebirds Chelsea and Ryan Collings, aka The Campervan Dancers have been performing full time together since they married two years ago. The pair of hippies began writing in harmony 4 years ago on the beaches of Sydney in their campervan-dancervan, Candice. Fusing elements of folk, hip hop and pop – their flavour of sunshine gangster goodness is one not to miss.”

THE BEELIPS – Put Your Foot Down [starts 25:40]https://www.facebook.com/thebeelips
“The Beelips are Jamie and Chris: two boys from the musical backwater/indie fest of Norwich, making bedroom noises – not that kind – on keyboards and computers, very post millennial, but with an eye on ’70s songwriters like David Bowie, ’90s slackers like Nirvana, ’00s style icons The Strokes, and ’10s goovers like Yeasayer. We make all the music inside a machine and sing real voices over the top. This approach sometimes works.”

THE CASUAL SEXISTS – Black Plastic [starts 28:54]http://www.thecasualsexists.com
“Strung out on an unhealthy diet of synth-pop, woozy techno and the glorious horror of real life, The Casual Sexists create modern pop music with the aid of grubby synths, domestic objects and a wry sense of humour. Their new EP, Let’s Go To The Beach, is out now on Ghoul Tapes, with an album release bubbling in the works for 2017.”

THE WATANABES – Tonight [starts 31:54]http://www.thewatanabes.com
“We’re two brothers from rural Norfolk strumming our stuff in Tokyo. (Long story.) We call ourselves The Watanabes. Watanabe is a common Japanese surname, a bit like ‘Smith’. Probably no need to mention our influences then… We’ve had loads of other band members over the years – including Matt Sorum of Guns N Roses for one gig (another long story!) – but unfortunately, most of them grew tired of our on stage brotherly bickering! (Selwyn still takes ages to tune after all these years!) Nowadays we often perform alongside our talented Japanese friends, Ayumi Sato (bass) and Tomoyuki Yamada (drums) and we enjoy munching on sushi together before gigs. We work closely with a Scottish music producer called David Naughton. Dave used to engineer at the legendary Ca Va Studios in Glasgow, where he worked alongside some of our heroes; Belle & Sebastian and Teenage FanClub. Some say it has rubbed off on us, but we’d much rather you judged for yourselves so please check out our new EP Spoiled And Nostalgic and let us know what you think. Ambitions for the future? Playing some gigs in our own country!

Upcoming shows are all in Japan I’m afraid, but we very much hope to play some shows back in the UK over the summer.”

LULA BLIOUX – Creepin’ [starts 35:39]http://www.lulablioux.com
“Lula Blioux is an up and coming singer songwriter living in South London. Her debut and follow up single We Don’t Talk and Creepin’ have met critical acclaim and has been featured as an artist to watch in 2017 by Best of British. Lula studied music at the London Centre of Comtemporary but it was in 2013 after the sudden unexpected death of her father that she began song writing. ‘It was a really dark time, for a lot of reasons, I definitely know what it’s like to hit rock bottom, writing was the only thing at that point keeping me sane’. Now in a much brighter place, Lula looks forward to the opportunities her music brings in 2017. She is writing new material and has gigs lined up around London through out 2017.”

LYDIA KITTO – Ride [starts 39:20]https://www.facebook.com/LydiaKittoMusic/“Lydia Kitto is a 22 year old musician/singer from Essex, that doesn’t fake tan like the rest of them.” Ollie Winiberg from BBC Introducing in Essex forwarded this to us.

LUNAR QUIET – Cold Spell [starts 44:19]http://www.facebook.com/LunarQuiet
“Lunar Quiet would just like to dedicate our track to our singer/guitarist Tom Knights who with a heavy heart we sadly lost on the 23rd of October this year. Tom was our best friend, hero and inspiration, we love you eternally Tom!”

THE CORNER LAUGHERS – Don’t Hush, Darling [starts 48:48]http://www.cornerlaughers.comThe Corner Laughers are based in California but have several auxiliary members in the UK.
“After the dismal US presidential election, we wanted to do something good, so we released this new ‘anti-lullaby’ and are donating the profits to charity. Any proceeds from sales from this track will go to The Representation Project, which inspires individuals and communities to challenge and overcome limiting stereotypes so that everyone, regardless of gender, race, class, age, sexual orientation, or circumstance, can fulfill their human potential.

At a school where I once worked, when it was a student’s birthday, they would get to choose whether to be the king, queen, prince or princess of the day. While the boys invariably chose king, the girls, to my dismay, always ended up as princess. This song is an anti-lullaby, meant to remind my daughter – and all our daughters – they can be more. ‘To all the little girls watching this, never doubt that you are powerful and valuable and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world’ – Hillary Clinton, Nov. 2016″

ANNIE & THE STATION ORCHESTRA – King Of The Idiots [starts 52:40]https://www.facebook.com/anniestation
“Annie & The Station Orchestra is the work of Glasgow based musician, Chas ‘Annie’ Kinnis – one time member of the Pep Boys with Finnish singer/songwriter, Jean Sibelius Ramsay. He has also previously played and recorded with Edinburgh guitar/indie bands, Scout-Master General, Ageing Children and Kennel Club, amongst others. Annie released a split album (4 tracks each) with Japanese musician/producer, Ippu Mitsui earlier this year, simply entitled, Ippu Mitsui / Annie & The Station Orchestra. The debut album Bingo Halls by Annie & The Station Orchestra was released via Bearsuit Records on 9th December. It is now also available from the usual outlets i.e. i-Tunes, Amazon, Spotify, etc. Annie & The Station Orchestra are currently writing material for a new album.”

ARTISTS…
In the music industry, as in life, it’s best to treat unsolicited emails asking for money with extreme caution. You may hear from a PR company who have “worked with some of the most original and exciting artists in the UK” who “found you online and after having a listen would be interested in working with you”. Please be aware you haven’t been sent this because you are special – it’s a form email, regularly received by artists who appear on this blog – and it’s from a company who are trying to sell you their services.

There are literally hundreds of plugging and PR companies in the UK – many of whom have equally impressive lists of clients and who would be glad to have your business. You don’t neccessarily have to choose the first company that happens to get in touch with you. See our advice on Sending CDs to Radio and The Pros And Cons Of Pluggers – it’s possible you might not even need professional radio promotion at this point.

And if you do decide to pay for a PR company, don’t take their word for how good they are – get some personal recommendations from their clients. Before parting with your hard-earned cash why not email a few of the indie labels who regularly get their own artists on the radio – and ask which PR companies they use.

… ALSO
If we’ve featured you on the BBC Introducing Mixtape recently, please do us a favour and wait 12 weeks before sending us another track. That will give us space to help a few other deserving artists in the meantime. But I’d love to hear another great new tune from you in three months’ time.

Tom Robinson

Tom Robinson

London-based broadcaster & songwriter, born 1950. His best known songs are 2-4-6-8 Motorway, Glad To Be Gay and War Baby; he has also co-written songs with Peter Gabriel, Elton John, Dan Hartman and Manu Katché. Read More...